Texas Cancer Agency Heads Back To Work

AUSTIN (AP) – Leaders of the state’s $3 billion cancer agency are returning to the Texas Capitol, but this time under better circumstances than the last time.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas meets Friday for the first time since lawmakers this spring overhauled the agency troubled by a criminal investigation and questionable spending.

The agency previously held public meetings in a downtown Austin office building. Interim executive director Wayne Roberts says relocating to the Texas Capitol symbolizes the agency’s new commitment to transparency.

The agency, known as CPRIT, controls the nation’s second-largest pot of cancer research dollars.

Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders this week lifted a nearly yearlong moratorium that had barred the agency from awarding grant money while under heavy scrutiny.